PHILADELPHIA—A season of battling bumps and bruises, and aches and pains, has caught up with Fred VanVleet again, knocking the Raptors leader out of the most significant game of the year.
A left hip flexor strain, suffered in the first half of Saturday’s Game 4, will sideline VanVleet for tonight’s Game 5 of their first-round playoff series with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Nothing too major, thank God,” VanVleet said Monday morning before the Raptors went through a game-day shootaround at the Wells Fargo Center.
“Definitely showing a hip flexor strain. I’ll be out tonight, kind of take it day by day and go from there.”
If the Raptors can extend the series to a Game 6 on Thursday, it’s unlikely that VanVleet would be back.
“I’m always going to leave that window open, it’s not one of those things where I’m out for four weeks,” he said. “It’ll probably take some time. Hopefully we can extend this thing and I would feel great about maybe playing in the next round.”
VanVleet was injured making a defensive move in the first quarter of Saturday’s win. He tried to play through the injury, getting heat treatment between the first and second quarters but it was obvious his movements were limited.
He stormed off the court, tearing off his jersey, in obvious frustration.
“Once I checked back in, it was all locked up,” he said. “Couldn’t really move, can’t really lift my leg or anything like that. It was difficult to move around, and that’s when I took the foul — after it didn’t warm back up.”
There are a handful of options for coach Nick Nurse. He’s most likely to rely on Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam to act as Toronto’s primary ballhandlers but he could turn to Malachi Flynn, a more traditional point guard.
It will depend, the coach said, on how the game develops.
“I think if Thad (Young) and Chris (Boucher) are having a game then we probably stay bigger,” Nurse said. “And we just feel it out as we go from there.”
For VanVleet, the hip strain just adds to a series of nagging injuries he’s been dealing with most of the season. He said he had some hip discomfort early in the season, and sat out a handful of games with a sore knee after February’s all-star break.
“I think it’s been a tough year on him,” Nurse said. “It’s unfortunate, but … listen, he was, even before this, I think everyone could see he was laboring a bit. I don’t think this one is going to last forever and I hope maybe it can help other things too.
“While he’s out maybe he can get those touched up a little bit too and get rid of some of the other bumps and bruises and things.”
Said VanVleet: “My body finally just tapped out,” he said. “Here we are.”
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)